May
a person say “I cannot sleep with the lights on,” in the
hope that a gentile will switch the lights off?
This
is a very common situation and many people in different
places are accustomed to a certain p’sak. It is
not our intention to alter that, but to merely present
different halachic views.
The
underlying point is that when a person says that “I
cannot sleep with the lights on,” one is not instructing
a gentile to switch off the lights rather than stating a
fact in the hope that the gentile will understand the
hint.
Another point is that the Jew is not benefiting directly
from the actions of the gentile, which ostensibly is
another reason to permit it.
So
what is the halacha?
We find two opposing views to this
particular situation.
The
Magen Avraham
says that if a person sees that a gentile is about to
light a candle (that belongs to the Jew) for the Jew’s
benefit, one must prevent that from happening.
But surely
everybody agrees to this halacha of the Magen Avraham?
Correct, but we are talking about a specific
case, which The Shulchan Aruch
describes as follows: candles are burning in a Jew’s
house and a gentile lights an additional candle. The
gentile also adds oil to the lamp. The halacha is
that one may benefit from the candle lit by the gentile
and from the lamp with the added oil for the duration of
the original candles, but after these candles have burnt
out, a person may not benefit from the candle lit by the
gentile or from the added oil.
What is the reason
one is permitted to benefit from a candle lit by a
gentile for the sake of the Jew - it seems to contradict
everything we know?
The reason is that since one had ample light
before the gentile lit the new candle or added oil to
the lamp, the additional light is an add-on and not the
principal and one may therefore benefit from it.
Since I am
permitted to benefit from the additional light (as long
as the old ones are burning) may I instruct the gentile
or hint that I want extra light?
The Mishna Berura
says that whatever happens one may not instruct the
gentile to do a melacha, even though b’diavad
– post factum one may benefit from the additional
light. As for hinting, this is where
the Magen Avraham writes that the halacha
says that one must protest when one sees that the
gentile is about to light an extra candle.
We
see from the Magen Avraham that even when a
person does not derive benefit from a gentile’s action,
it is forbidden to hint to the gentile to perform a
melacha for the Jew and when one sees that the
gentile is about to do a melacha, one must
protest and prevent him from doing so.
That is one school
of thought, what is the other?
The Chayei Adam argues with the
Magen Avraham and says that one need not prevent the
gentile from lighting a new candle when there are other
candles in the room. The reasoning is that it is not
considered benefiting from the gentile. Accordingly one
may hint to the gentile to turn out lights etc. because
it is not considered deriving benefit from the gentile.
We
could say that the Chayei Adam holds that one may
say to a gentile, “I do not need the gas range anymore”,
“I cannot sleep with the lights on”, “the light is
pretty weak in here”, because in all these cases one is
not ‘benefiting’ from the gentile’s action.
For
a final ruling one must ask one’s rav as to whether it
is permitted.
Am I permitted to
say on Shabbos “why did you not turn on the lights last
Shabbos” hoping that the lights get switched on?
That type of hinting is forbidden according
to all the poskim, because one is suggesting
turning on lights by mentioning the action. It is called
a direct hint and is forbidden.
May I instruct a
gentile to wash the dishes when I know that a dishwasher
will be used?
Obviously this exact case in not mentioned
in the Shulchan Aruch, so we will begin with a
comparable issue that is mentioned and try to learn from
it.
The
Taz
describes a case where the gentile maidservant was asked
to wash the dishes and to do so she lit a candle. The
Taz says that since the Jew does not physically
benefit from that light and since the maidservant
switches it on for her own sake the Jew may use it. This
is because it is has the status of a light switched on
for the sake of a gentile.
The
chidush (novelty) is that even though she is
washing the Jew’s dishes, she is nevertheless switching
on the lights to aid herself in the task that she is
performing.
May the Jew aid the
maidservant?
The Mishna Berura states
that the Jew may aid the maidservant because, as above,
we view switching on the lights for the maidservant’s
benefit. The Jew however may not wash the dishes alone
because then it is seen as if the gentile switched on
the lights for the sake of the Jew.
Does this imply
that the maidservant may use a dishwasher?
Indeed it does. The Jew merely instructs the
gentile to wash the dishes, which can be washed
b’heter without involving any prohibitions, and the
gentile on her own accord and for her own benefit
decides to use the dishwasher. If the only alternative
is using a dishwasher, it would be ossur to
instruct her to wash the dishes because one is
instructing her to violate an issur.
To summarize:
-
Gentiles may switch on a light when doing so for
their own benefit, even though in essence the main
action is to fulfill a Jew’s instruction.
-
A Jew may benefit from that light.
-
A gentile may use a dishwasher to wash dishes when
instructed to wash dishes, provided that there is a
way for the gentile to do it b’heter.